Nicotine has been proposed to have a number of pharmacological effects. See, for example, Pullan et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 330:811-815 (1994). Certain of those effects can be related to effects upon neurotransmitter release. Release of acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and glutamate upon administration of nicotine has been reported (Rowell et al., J. Neurochem. 43:1593 (1984); Rapier et al., J. Neurochem. 50:1123 (1988); Sandor et al., Brain Res. 567:313 (1991); Vizi, Br. J. Pharmacol. 47:765 (1973); Hall et al., Biochem. Pharmacol. 21:1829 (1972); Hery et al., Arch. Int. Pharmacodyn. Ther. 296:91 (1977); and Toth et al., Neurochem Res. 17:265 (1992)). Confirmatory reports and additional recent studies have included the modulation in the Central Nervous System (CNS) of glutamate, nitric oxide, GABA, takykinins, cytokines, and peptides (reviewed in Brioni et al., Adv. Pharmacol. 37:153 (1997)). In addition, nicotine reportedly potentiates the pharmacological behavior of certain pharmaceutical compositions used to treat certain disorders. See, for example, Sanberg et al., Pharmacol. Biochem. & Behavior 46:303 (1993); Harsing et al., J. Neurochem. 59:48 (1993); and Hughes, Proceedings from Intl. Symp. Nic. S40 (1994). Furthermore, the neuroprotective effects of nicotine have been proposed, see, for example, Sjak-shie et al., Brain Res. 624:295 (1993). Various other beneficial pharmacological effects have also been proposed. See, for example, Decina et al., Biol. Psychiatry 28:502 (1990); Wagner et al., Pharmacopsychiatry 21:301 (1988); Pomerleau et al., Addictive Behaviors 9:265 (1984); Onaivi et al., Life Sci. 54(3):193 (1994); Tripathi et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 221:91 (1982); and Hamon, Trends in Pharmacol. Res. 15:36 (1994).
Various compounds that target nAChRs (nicotinic acetylcholinergic receptors) have been reported as being useful for treating a wide variety of conditions and disorders. See, for example, Williams et al., DN&P 7(4):205 (1994); Arneric et al., CNS Drug Rev. 1(1):1 (1995); Arneric et al., Exp. Opin. Invest. Drugs 5(1):79 (1996); Bencherif et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 279:1413 (1996); Lippiello et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 279:1422 (1996); Damaj et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 291:390 (1999); Chiari et al., Anesthesiology 91:1447 (1999); Lavand'homme and Eisenbach, Anesthesiology 91:1455 (1999); Holladay et al., J. Med. Chem. 40(28): 4169 (1997); Bannon et al., Science 279: 77 (1998); PCT WO 94/08992; PCT WO 96/31475; PCT WO 96/40682; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,583,140 to Bencherif et al.; 5,597,919 to Dull et al.; 5,604,231 to Smith et al.; and 5,852,041 to Cosford et al. Nicotinic compounds are reported as being particularly useful for treating a wide variety of CNS disorders. Indeed, a wide variety of nicotinic compounds have been reported to have therapeutic properties. See, for example, Bencherif and Schmitt, Current Drug Targets: CNS and Neurological Disorders 1(4): 349-357 (2002), Levin and Rezvani, Current Drug Targets: CNS and Neurological Disorders 1(4): 423-431 (2002), O'Neill, et al., Current Drug Targets: CNS and Neurological Disorders 1(4): 399-411 (2002), U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,187,166 to Kikuchi et al., 5,672,601 to Cignarella, PCT WO 99/21834 and PCT WO 97/40049, UK Patent Application GB 2295387 and European Patent Application 297,858.
CNS disorders are a type of neurological disorder. CNS disorders can be drug-induced; can be attributed to genetic predisposition, infection or trauma; or can be of unknown etiology. CNS disorders comprise neuropsychiatric disorders, neurological diseases, and mental illnesses, and include neurodegenerative diseases, behavioral disorders, cognitive disorders, and cognitive affective disorders. There are several CNS disorders whose clinical manifestations have been attributed to CNS dysfunction (i.e., disorders resulting from inappropriate levels of neurotransmitter release, inappropriate properties of neurotransmitter receptors, and/or inappropriate interaction between neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter receptors). Several CNS disorders can be attributed to a deficiency of acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and/or serotonin.
Relatively common CNS disorders include pre-senile dementia (early-onset Alzheimer's disease), senile dementia (dementia of the Alzheimer's type), micro-infarct dementia, AIDS-related dementia, vascular dementia, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, Pick's disease, Parkinsonism including Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, Huntington's chorea, tardive dyskinesia, hyperkinesia, epilepsy, mania, attention deficit disorder, anxiety, dyslexia, schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and Tourette's syndrome.
Subtypes of nAChRs are present in both the central and peripheral nervous systems, but the distribution of subtypes is heterogeneous. For instance, the subtypes which are predominant in vertebrate brain are α4β2, α7, and α3β2, whereas those which predominate at the autonomic ganglia are α3β4 and those of neuromuscular junction are α1β1δγ and α1β1δε (see for instance Dwoskin et al., Exp. Opin. Ther. Patents 10: 1561 (2000); and Schmitt and Bencherif, Annual Reports in Med. Chem. 35: 41 (2000)).
A limitation of some nicotinic compounds is that they elicit various undesirable pharmacological effects because of their interaction with nAChRs in peripheral tissues (for example, by stimulating muscle and ganglionic nAChR subtypes). It is therefore desirable to have compounds, compositions, and methods for preventing and/or treating various conditions or disorders (e.g., CNS disorders), including alleviating the symptoms of these disorders, where the compounds exhibit nicotinic pharmacology with a beneficial effect on the CNS nAChRs (e.g., upon the functioning of the CNS), but without significant associated effects on the peripheral nAChRs (compounds specific for CNS nAChRs). It is also highly desirable to have compounds, compositions, and methods that affect CNS function without significantly affecting those receptor subtypes which have the potential to induce undesirable side effects (e.g., appreciable activity at cardiovascular and skeletal muscle sites).
Methods for treating and/or preventing the above-described conditions and disorders by administering E-metanicotine compounds, particularly those which maximize the effect on CNS function without significantly affecting those receptor subtypes which have the potential to induce undesirable side effects, have been described in the art. Representative E-metanicotine compounds for use in treating and/or preventing the above-described disorders are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,188 to Caldwell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,231 to Smith et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,707 to Crooks et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,716 to Dull et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,356 to Ruecroft et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,316 to Crooks et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,442 to Bencherif et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,423 to Caldwell et al., PCT WO 97/40011; PCT WO 99/65876 PCT WO 00/007600; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/391,747, filed on Sep. 8, 1999, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The syntheses described in the art for forming E-metanicotines typically involve performing a Heck reaction between a halogenated heteroaryl ring, such as a halo-pyridine or halo-pyrimidine, and a double bond-containing compound. The double bond-containing compound typically includes either a hydroxy group, which is converted to an amine group to form the E-metanicotine, or includes a protected amine group, which is deprotected following the Heck reaction to form the E-metanicotine. A limitation of the Heck coupling chemistry is that, while the major reaction product is the desired E-metanicotine, there are minor reaction products, including the Z-metanicotine, a metanicotine compound where the double bond has migrated from the position adjacent to the heteroaryl (such as pyridine or pyrimidine) ring (i.e., a non-conjugated double bond), and a compound in which the heteroaryl group is attached at the secondary (as opposed to primary) alkene carbon (i.e., a methylene compound or “exo” double bond). It can be difficult to remove these minor reaction products, particularly on scale-up.
It would be advantageous to provide new methods of preparing purified E-metanicotine compounds substantially free from the above-described minor reaction products. It would also be advantageous to provide new salt forms of these drugs to improve their bioavailability, and/or to assist in preparing large quantities of these compounds in a commercially reasonable manner. The present invention provides such new synthesis methods and new salt forms.